


Last Christmas, I Made You a Mixtape

by bry0psida



Series: Harringrove Advent [2]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Light Angst, M/M, Mixtape
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:41:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21646207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bry0psida/pseuds/bry0psida
Summary: Billy is giving Steve the silent treatment. The reason is much sweeter than Steve expects.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington, Steve Harrington/Billy Hargrove
Series: Harringrove Advent [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1558885
Comments: 1
Kudos: 158





	Last Christmas, I Made You a Mixtape

Steve slams his front door just as Billy starts honking his horn. He doesn’t stop until Steve opens the passenger door.

“Where’s the fire, man?” Steve asks.

“You’re late,” Says Billy.

“I’m not that late…” Steve’s voice trails off as he stares intently at his watch face. “Huh, coulda sworn it said seven thirty last time I checked, too.” Steve glances at Billy’s watch and blanches. “Maybe I am late.”

“Yeah.” Billy’s reply is monotone. He doesn’t say anything else as he reverses the car and gets on the road. The car is deathly silent save the muted prattling coming from the radio.

The drive to school passes in a blur, Billy speeding the whole way. Houses and trees fly by as Billy rebuffs all Steve’s attempts at conversation.

Steve huffs. “Oh, so you’re not talkin’ to me now? Great. That’s just great."

Billy speeds into the Hawkins High parking lot, tires protesting the abrupt stop. Billy’s watch reads eight-fifteen. Steve doesn’t mind being late for first period, but he knows Billy has a _thing_ about being on time.

“Billy, look, I’m sorry, okay?”

He doesn’t reply, opting instead to roll down his window as he lights up a Camel.

“It’s hardly my fault my watch broke or whatever, you coulda knocked on the front door.”

Billy ashes his cigarette out the window. “If you’re late after school you can walk home.” Billy’s voice is as icy as the wind whipping in through the open window.

“Fine.” Steve slams the door behind him and marches into school confused and angry.

…

Steve doesn’t see Billy at lunch, or in gym. When he asks around it turns out no one else has seen him either. Steve fully expects to walk home, even manages to bum the promise of a ride from Byers when the snow turns to sleet.

The first thing Steve sees when he walks into the downpour is Billy’s Camaro idling right by the entrance to the school.

Jonathan pats Steve on the shoulder, “Guess you don’t need that ride, huh?” before jogging to his own car.

When Steve slides into the passenger seat he’s greeted by Billy’s wide smile. Steve frowns but smiles back, more than a little confused. He opens his mouth to speak, but Billy shushes him with a finger pressed to Steve’s lips. “Don’t talk, just listen.” Billy’s finger is gone as soon as it appeared to press play on the stereo.

Steve huffs a light laugh when Last Christmas by Wham starts playing.

“Christmas music, really? Feeling the holiday spirit, Bill?”

“Just shut up and listen, ‘kay? We’re going for a drive.”

Steve nods more for his own benefit than Billy’s since his eyes are on the road. Billy’s hand finds Steve’s and clutches it tight between them, only letting go to change gears.

They drive around for a little under an hour, listening to a variety of Christmas songs before coming to a stop outside Steve’s house.

Steve’s thumb is rubbing circles into the back of Billy’s hand through the soft grey cotton of his finger-less gloves. “You wanna tell me what was up with you today, followed by why you just took me for a tour of Hawkins set to all the latest holiday hits?”

“Close your eyes.”

“What?”

“You heard me, close ‘em.”

Steve rolls his eyes before complying. Billy pulls his hand away and starts rummaging in the glove compartment. Steve hears the rustle of paper, the crinkle of plastic, and the stereo ejecting the tape. Billy fiddles some more before telling Steve to open his eyes.

When he does, a cassette tape with a frilly plastic blue bow along with a folded piece of paper is shoved into his lap. Steve blinks and takes them. “Thank you?”

“It’s the one I just played you,” Billy explains.

Steve presses his lips together as he unfolds the paper and scans the track-list. “Uh-huh, got that. Still at a loss here for how this explains your behaviour today.”

Billy’s face falls. “You don’t like it?”

“Of course I do, I like everything you give me. But you can’t just give me something and expect the way you acted earlier to suddenly be okay.”

Billy sighs. “I have-I have problems with time, you know that. Get real angry when people don’t keep promises and show up when they say they’re gonna, ‘specially when it’s important.”

“Important? We had school, which you didn’t even stick around for.”

“Okay, look; I spent like a month making this for you, and-“

“Wait, wait, wait. You spent a month making me a mixtape?”

“Yeah, and I had this whole idea in my head about giving it to you, how it was supposed to go. I was so excited to give it to you that I could barely sleep last night, then I overslept, then I couldn’t find the tape and spent so long looking for it I had to skip breakfast, then I get to your house and you’re late out. I worked really hard on it but things just kept going wrong; _then_ you don’t even say sorry when you get in the car.”

Steve nods a couple times, pocketing the gifts. “Looks like we both had shitty days, huh?”

Billy reaches for Steve’s hands, meets his gaze. “I’m sorry for being a dick, baby. Forgive me?” Then he flashes his teeth in his signature smile and Steve decides he’s forgiven.

“You know I can’t stay mad at you when you look at me like that.”

Billy sighs in relief and pulls Steve by the wrists in for their first hug of the day. Steve’s hands get stuck in Billy’s lap as he wraps his arms tight around Steve’s upper arms and back, burying his face in Steve’s neck.

“You really like it?” Billy’s voice is muffled against Steve’s skin.

“I do; I like it so much.”

“I wanted to get to get it right. I didn’t get it right today.”

“It’s okay, baby. It’s okay.”

Billy stays where he is for another minute or two, nuzzling the side of Steve’s neck before pulling away.

“You have any idea how many stations I had to call and ask them to play something for my girlfriend? Long distance calls to California aren’t cheap.”

Steve laughs at that. “Why’d you call out of state?”

“Didn’t wanna risk you hearing me on the radio, and all the numbers I knew were for Cali. I wanted to get it right.”

“You did, Billy. You did.”

**Author's Note:**

> I asked my mum how long it used to take her to make mixtapes and the answer was a lot shorter than I expected. The reason it took Billy so long is because: he hates Christmas music but wanted to find songs he could stand listening to and he thought Steve would like, spent a lot of time on the tracklist, had trouble tracking down copies of some of the songs so ended up having to call radio stations to try and get them to play them. All of this is done between school/work/seeing Steve, hence the huge delay. It did Not take your average person a month to make a mixtape.
> 
> Also, I made a playlist for the mixtape on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6YHDl3kLuW8yfDagaMs1pP?si=kGEOFJXaTGOKoVDNL30ozGg)


End file.
